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Archive for March 29th, 2013
Scientists Say Oil Industry Likely Caused Largest Oklahoma Earthquake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2013
National Geographic: The largest recorded earthquake in Oklahoma history was likely triggered by the injection of wastewater from oil production into wells deep beneath the earth, according to a study published Tuesday in the scientific journal Geology.
The magnitude 5.7 earthquake, which struck in 2011 near Prague in central Oklahoma, is the largest and most recent of a number of quakes scientists have tied to wastewater injection from oil and natural gas production, raising new concerns about the practice.
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Climate change expected to increase Snake River sediment tenfold
Posted by Idaho Statesman: Rocky Barker on March 29th, 2013
Idaho Statesman: The Army Corps of Engineer under law is supposed to maintain the lower Snake River navigation channel at 14 feet deep and 250 feet wide. In the draft EIS, the Corps is proposing a long-term plan to manage, and prevent if possible, river sediment deposition behind all four dams, Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite Locks and Dams.
As I reported earlier, groups who seek removal of the four lower Snake Dams are using this process to push their point that not only is their...
What role do small dams play in pollution control?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Sometimes, little things can add up to a lot. In short, that's the message of a research study on small dams, streams and pollution by Steve Powers, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative (ECI).
"Small dams, reservoirs and ponds trap water pollution, which provides an important benefit to water resources," Powers said. "This is especially relevant in agricultural lands of the Midwest U.S., where there are lots of small, but aging dams."
Although...
New technologies combat invasive species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2013
ScienceDaily: A new research paper by a team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Environmental Change Initiative (ECI) demonstrates how two cutting-edge technologies can provide a sensitive and real-time solution to screening real-world water samples for invasive species before they get into our country or before they cause significant damage.
"Aquatic invasive species cause ecological and economic damage worldwide, including the loss of native biodiversity and damage to the world's great fisheries,"...
Scientists say Climate Change, Dams Threaten Mekong Livelihoods
Posted by Voice of America: Daniel Schearf on March 29th, 2013
Voice of America: Scientists meeting in the Thai capital have warned extreme weather caused by climate change will reduce fish stocks and major crops in the Mekong River Basin if countries in Southeast Asia fail to adapt. However, they also warn dam building, much of it for hydropower, is the largest single threat to fisheries that sustain millions of people.
An estimated 60 million fishermen and farmers depend on the Mekong River for its rich nutrients and abundant fish.
A new study by a group of scientists...
More than half of Chinese rivers have “disappeared” since 1990s
Posted by Times: Emily Ford on March 29th, 2013
Times: About 28,000 rivers have disappeared from China’s state maps, an absence seized upon by environmentalists as evidence of the irreversible natural cost of developmental excesses. More than half of the rivers previously thought to exist in China now appear to be missing, according to the 800,000 surveyors who compiled the first national water census, leaving Beijing fumbling to explain the cause. Only 22,909 rivers, covering an area of 100 square kilometres were located by surveyors, compared with...
Rivers of blood: the dead pigs rotting in China’s water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2013
Guardian: Standing on the quay, Mrs Wu jokes that there are more pigs than fish in Jiapingtang river. But she isn't smiling. The 48-year-old fisherwoman, who lives in Xinfeng, a sleepy country village, recalls splashing about in the river as a child on sticky summer days. Today it is inky black, covered in a slick of lime green algae, and it smells like a blocked drain. "Look at the water, who would dare to jump in?" says Wu. At her feet a dead piglet bobs on the river's surface, bouncing against the shore....
Cost of Environmental Degradation in China Is Growing
Posted by New York Times: Edward Wong on March 29th, 2013
New York Times: The cost of environmental degradation in China in 2010 was about $230 billion, or 3.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, an official Chinese news report said this week. The statistic came from a study by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning, which is part of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. So far, only partial results of the study are available. The 2010 figure was reported on Monday by a newspaper associated with the ministry. The estimated loss for that year was...
Americans back preparation for extreme weather and sea-level rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Images told the story: lower Manhattan in darkness, coastal communities washed away, cars floating in muck. Superstorm Sandy, a harbinger of future extreme weather intensified by climate change, caught the country off guard in October.
Unprepared for the flooding and high winds that ensued, the East Coast suffered more than $70 billion in property damage and more than 100 deaths.
Will Americans prepare and invest now to minimize the impact of disasters such as Sandy, or deal with storms and...
Democracy in Action as Fracking is Voted Down in Colorado Springs
Posted by EcoWatch: Phillip Doe on March 29th, 2013
EcoWatch: If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them. --Candidus in the Boston Gazette, 1772
Colorado Springs is Colorado`s second largest city. Perhaps unfairly, it is also known nationally as a bastion of conservative politics. Yet, a little over a week ago, on March 12, conservative and liberal--indeed people from every shade in the political spectrum--found common cause. They stood united...